The rationale for a coffee factory in Maprik
According to the CIC, the key to unlocking the potential of any crop is the availability of reliable road and market access facilities.
This is the rationale to relocate the coffee factory from Wewak to Maprik in East Sepik.
The main beneficiaries are the rural farmers in Maprik, Drekikir, Nuku, Yangoru, Angoram and Wosera Gawi.
They will have the opportunity to take part in integrated farming with cocoa, vanilla and other agriculture activities to avoid dependence on a single cash crop.
The ground breaking ceremony of the factory, located at Banialla, Ami Junction, in the Abiges-Mamblep LLG, Maprik District, was performed on June 28, 2018.
Farmers now pay a high cost for transporting coffee to Wewak, at K25 to K30 per bag.
The many agents the growers have to go through to process and sell their coffee is another nightmare.
What happens is the chairman of respective cooperatives notify CIC Maprik office when they have sufficient parchment bags.
CIC helps to transport their coffee to a marketing agent in Wewak, Sepik Coffee Ltd. The firm helps farmers to market their green bean coffee at K5.30 per kg.
Sepik Coffee arranges the processing of parchment to green bean with Pacific Agro Ltd, the only processing mill in Wewak. Sepik Coffee Ltd then transports the bags to Kundu Coffee Ltd in Lae for export.
The three players along the value chain collect their fees and the balance is held by CIC to notify respective cooperative chairmen to organise deposits into growers’ bank accounts.
These are some contributing factors to the decline of coffee in East Sepik.
Thus, a factory in Maprik was initiated by Anton Areka of agribusiness firm Weni & Mandol Investment Ltd, a lead partner of CIC’s Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project.
The lead partner is rehabilitating existing coffee gardens with 839 growers in Sepik Central covering 419 sq km.
The coffee rehabilitation effort is a PNG Government (Department of Agriculture and Livestock) initiative supported by World Bank and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) through loan financing. CIC is implementing the project through the PPAP project management unit.
The dry processing mill will service all growers, inclusive of those under the partnership in four districts namely Maprik, Yangoru-Saussia, Wosera-Gawi and Ambunti-Drekikir. Growers from Nuku and Lumi Districts of West Sepik will also benefit from this facility with a built-in storage shed.
Left Pics: Cocoa nursery at Hayfield in Maprik, East Sepik.
National Pic by: Malum Nali
The dry processing mill will service all growers, inclusive of those under the partnership in four districts namely Maprik, Yangoru-Saussia, Wosera-Gawi and Ambunti-Drekikir.
The coffee rehabilitation effort covers 38 cooperatives or grower groups.
According to data provided by Weni & Mandol with the help of CIC Maprik office, growers in Sepik Central have participated in 28 sales between 2006 and 2017. In the 11-year period, they produced 15,600 green bean bags. These bags brought in K4.8 million in foreign exchange. Net income to growers alone was K3.1 million. The balance of K1.7 million was paid to marketing, processing and export firms.
The provincial government and four District Development Authorities (DDAs), including Nuku (West Sepik), should invest in some agriculture development funds with Weni & Mandol towards the construction of the factory and setting up of more hybrid Robusta coffee nurseries and provision of equipment .
The mill will unlock the potential of Robusta coffee as another source of income alongside vanilla, cocoa and other agro-products for the provincial government.